{"doi":"10.3389/fpsyt.2020.562054","title":"Acute and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Mothers and Fathers Following Childbirth: A Prospective Cohort Study","abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction</jats:title><jats:p>Up to 30% of women view their childbirth as traumatic. This experience can lead to acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. The negative impact of maternal post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth reaches beyond the mother, potentially affecting her child's development and the couple's relationship. Research on <jats:italic>paternal</jats:italic> post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth is scarce. Acute stress disorder is suggested to be an important predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder in mothers, but little is known about <jats:italic>paternal</jats:italic> acute stress disorder following childbirth. Furthermore, there is limited information about the comparison or relation of acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth between parents.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Aim</jats:title><jats:p>[1] To compare the prevalence rates and severity of acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms between parents following childbirth by taking anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as obstetric variables and previous traumatic events into account and [2] To determine if acute stress disorder is a predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>A prospective population-based design was used. <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 647 participants were recruited from future parents who attended appointments at the Obstetrics and Gynecology unit at a Swiss university hospital. Self-report questionnaires were used: Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale in the third trimester of pregnancy (T1) and 1 month post-partum (T3), Acute Stress Disorder Scale at 1 week post-partum (T2), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at all time points. Obstetric and neonatal variables were retrieved from hospital records.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>At T2, 8.9% of mothers and 4.4% of fathers presented symptoms of acute stress disorder. At T3, 20.7% of mothers and 7.2% of fathers had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Acute stress disorder was a predictor of post-partum post-traumatic stress disorder (Odds ratio: 8.6, IC 95% [1.85; 40.42]). Depression symptoms was a significant confounder in the prediction of post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth, but not anxiety or previous perinatal loss.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Little is known about parental differences in acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following childbirth. Results indicate that <jats:italic>both</jats:italic> parents may suffer from acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms after childbirth and that acute stress disorder is a predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder after childbirth for both parents. Sensitization of maternity staff to these results may assist in earlier identification of and appropriate treatment for at-risk parents.</jats:p></jats:sec>","journal":"Frontiers in Psychiatry","year":2020,"id":607493,"datarank":0.6038027536102726,"base_score":4.02535169073515,"endowment":4.02535169073515,"self_citation_contribution":0.6038027536102726,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.6038027536102726,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":55,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1559883,"name":"Suzannah Stuijfzand","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1559885,"name":"Antje Horsch","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1559881,"name":"Elisabeth Schobinger","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Acute and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Mothers and Fathers Following Childbirth: A Prospective Cohort Study","abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction</jats:title><jats:p>Up to 30% of women view their childbirth as traumatic. This experience can lead to acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. The negative impact of maternal post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth reaches beyond the mother, potentially affecting her child's development and the couple's relationship. Research on <jats:italic>paternal</jats:italic> post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth is scarce. Acute stress disorder is suggested to be an important predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder in mothers, but little is known about <jats:italic>paternal</jats:italic> acute stress disorder following childbirth. Furthermore, there is limited information about the comparison or relation of acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth between parents.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Aim</jats:title><jats:p>[1] To compare the prevalence rates and severity of acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms between parents following childbirth by taking anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as obstetric variables and previous traumatic events into account and [2] To determine if acute stress disorder is a predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>A prospective population-based design was used. <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 647 participants were recruited from future parents who attended appointments at the Obstetrics and Gynecology unit at a Swiss university hospital. Self-report questionnaires were used: Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale in the third trimester of pregnancy (T1) and 1 month post-partum (T3), Acute Stress Disorder Scale at 1 week post-partum (T2), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at all time points. Obstetric and neonatal variables were retrieved from hospital records.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>At T2, 8.9% of mothers and 4.4% of fathers presented symptoms of acute stress disorder. At T3, 20.7% of mothers and 7.2% of fathers had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Acute stress disorder was a predictor of post-partum post-traumatic stress disorder (Odds ratio: 8.6, IC 95% [1.85; 40.42]). Depression symptoms was a significant confounder in the prediction of post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth, but not anxiety or previous perinatal loss.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Little is known about parental differences in acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following childbirth. Results indicate that <jats:italic>both</jats:italic> parents may suffer from acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms after childbirth and that acute stress disorder is a predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder after childbirth for both parents. Sensitization of maternity staff to these results may assist in earlier identification of and appropriate treatment for at-risk parents.</jats:p></jats:sec>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":4.02535169073515,"endowment":4.02535169073515,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"33414729","pmcid":"PMC7783161","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W3115885668","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":5.6525,"citation_percentile":0.96880779,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2020,"count":1},{"year":2021,"count":5},{"year":2022,"count":14},{"year":2023,"count":13},{"year":2024,"count":9},{"year":2025,"count":7},{"year":2026,"count":6}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.562054/pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.562054/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.562054/full","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.562054","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33414729","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_510C6795B37C","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://iris.unil.ch/handle/iris/123001","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/875854e8977a43509891c4aa5b821b0e","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"http://europepmc.org/pmc/articles/PMC7783161","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/7783161","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://iris.unil.ch/bitstreams/2943d0e8-0a51-4fe2-bfd6-6545e400954a/download","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC7783161","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC7783161?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum","Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health","Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Acute Stress Disorder","Traumatic stress","Childbirth","Anxiety","Medicine","Prospective cohort study","Population","Psychiatry","Depression (economics)","Pregnancy","Psychology","Clinical psychology","Internal medicine","Parents","Mothers","Fathers","Nurses And Midwives","Acute Stress (Disorder)","Ptsd-Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[{"name":"doi"}],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-30T06:29:43.303050Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}